Heart valve replacement is required when a patient's heart valve becomes diseased or damaged. Surgically implanted heart valve prostheses have extended the life expectancy of many patients with defective heart valves. Such prostheses can be either mechanical or biological (tissue valves), stented an/or stentless and may be implanted into the aortic, mitral, tricuspid, or pulmonary position.
During this surgical procedure, the heart is typically stopped, and the patient attached to a heart/lung bypass machine that pumps and oxygenates the patient's blood. The longer a patient is required to rely on the artificial heart/lung bypass machine to maintain vital functions, the greater the stress on the patient. There is consequently a need to simplify the surgical implantation of a heart valve prosthesis into the implantation annulus in order to minimize both the length of surgery and the amount of time spent on heart/lung bypass.
New stented biological valves made from flexible material or from materials that exhibit shape memory characteristics promise less complicated and faster valve implant procedures. Such valves may be folded to reduce their size for delivery to a target site, and re-expanded when in position. Such valves are sometimes referred to as suture-less valves since they may be implanted and secured into the patient's annulus without the use of sutures. In some instances, one, two, three, or a plurality of sutures are utilized to guide the valves into position. An example of such a valve is Artof et al., Minimally Invasive Valve Replacement System, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/680,071, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,101,396 on Sep. 5, 2006, hereby incorporated by reference.
The limited view of and access to an implantation site makes insertion of bioprosthetic valves difficult and time consuming. The valve itself may also reduce the surgeon's view of the implantation site, making valve positioning difficult. In the case of surgical aortic valve replacements, a small slit is sometimes made through the patient's aorta so that the malfunctioning valve can be removed and replaced with a prosthetic valve. Both disposable and non-disposable valve holders are used to help position the valve during surgery. Known valve holders, however, are large and cumbersome and obstruct the surgeon's view. Current valve holders are also not adapted to receive valves that exhibit shape memory characteristics. Therefore, what are needed are methods and systems for performing valve surgery as quickly as possible to ensure consistent and accurate placement of the prosthesis.